Trump Advisory Council Falling Apart: CEO Storms Out After Criticism

Travis Kalanick, the CEO of the ride-hailing company Uber has chosen to exit President Trump’s Advisory Council after criticism from his company’s drivers and customers after Trump’s controversial executive order leading to the #DeleteUber campaign on Twitter.

Travis Kalanick had first joined the President’s Advisory Council in December last year along with other renowned figures like Indra Nooyi, Elon Musk, etc.

Silicon Valley in Turmoil

Mr. Kalanick’s exit from the advisory council is something many Silicon Valley CEOs are facing. The dilemma they face is that on one hand, many tech executives have openly tried to engage with the president, a path that is typically good for business.

Yet, on the other hand, Trump’s immigration order has been heavily criticized by the public. Many of the tech workers are immigrants who advocate globalization who are now exerting pressure on their chief executives to push back forcefully against the Trump administration.

Facebook employees voiced their frustration about Peter Thiel— billionaire tech investor and adviser to Mr. Trump, still having a seat on Facebook’s board. Google, employees have protested against the immigration order.

Events Leading to Kalanick’s Exit

Uber was under attack after people accused the company of making a profit from giving rides to airport customers in New York during the weekend protests against President Trump’s executive order that barred immigrants and refugees from entering the United States.

Apart from that, Uber also faced other fallout from as more than 200,000 customers had deleted their accounts and #DeleteUber was trending on Twitter, as Lyft, Uber’s rival took over the Apple AppStore Downloads for the first time.

Kalanick also faced internal pressure from his employees as some Uber employees directly asked him: “What would it take for you to quit the economic council?” in a meeting.

Kalanick wrote to his employees in an email that he’d talked to President Trump to: “let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately, it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”